Word from The Jemster

[sawtooth]

I'll happily continue to follow his career wherever it leads. Unless he does a country rap album. Then all bets are off.

Now THAT'S what I call genre bending, Gonz....  

[RacingHippo]

Bwaahahahahahahahaa!
Brilliant, Sawtooth!

[Al Fleeman]

Bwaahahahahahahahaa!
Brilliant, Sawtooth!

+1
You should post it on his blog!

[gr8gonzo]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

I have tears in my eyes. Hilarious.

[E.S.]

Haha, that's excellent!

Even Jem can't keep me as a fan if he goes that way.  :lol:

[rogerg]

HEH

[sawtooth]

I think the thing is, if Jem did go down that route, he'd do it bloody well  

For what it's worth, I think the latest blog entry is what Pedders has called in the past 'managing expectation'. Sure, we all love Frost* to bits and would dearly wish it could have continued, but it's obviously not, and Jem is clearly drawing not just a line in the sand, but more erecting a glass screen. Frost* is behind it, so that he can see it, be proud of it, but not touch it, as it is past tense. Thankfully he's left a door, so that any fans of his work can nip out and see what he's up to, but still have access to their luvverly fix of Frostieness should they so desire.

I don't think he's trying to alienate anyone, and he's certainly not saying he doesn't want fans of his Frost* work as his new audience. He's just being brutally honest with us (which is how I think he has to be if Frost* is fully, finally no more) and coming straight out with the fact that some of us may not like his new output.

I for one think he's got a very healthy outlook now, on life and happiness. Is that so bad?

[Mikey]

Bwaahahahahahahahaa!
Brilliant, Sawtooth!

That's a cracker

[E.S.]

Another thing to cheer you up; No matter what, he will still sound like Jem. It's that musical signature that you simply can't remove, no matter what genre or style it is. And that way, the new stuff will sound a tiiiiny bit like Frost*.

Maybe...  :?

[boswell]

Very well said Sawtooth.

And E.S. you're spot on with that. There's definitely a certain something about every track he does which acts as his signature. Can't put my finger on it yet (I thought it might have been that strange vocal *sigh*/squelch thing you can hear most in Wedding Day (but Milliontown and a ton of other tracks too) but I'm not sure. Anyway it's pointless pinning it down to one thing, it's a multitude, and that will mark anything he ever does I reckon. It's like when they slip crack cocaine into Pringles to make them addictive (allegedly). Jem has the auditory equivalent of a sprinkling of narcotics to make his tracks addictive.

[XeRocks81]

Good points all,

But I just can't help but feel a little odd to be still discussing what Jem's up to here, on the Frost* forum, when he's clearly moved on.

[Pedro]

I guess the alternative is to move this to the Other Bands section.
It has kind of deflated my bouncy castle of optimism a little but I'm still keen to keep up with what he's doing and, until a new place gets set-up (if it will, who knows?), this is as good a place as any.

[grif]

I've been struggling a bit with my take on the whole Jem finishing with Frost* business. My main feeling is disappointment that the band seem to be no more, I've loved both albums and when Milliontown came out it got excited about music in way I hadn't been for years. After going to both the Derby and Bilston shows at Christmas I had a real feeling that the four piece version of the band had really gelled and promised much for the future. Jems blogs have also been a real source of enjoyment and the communication he had with the Frost* fans was a real joy. I completely understand though how tiring all this was for him and its no surprise that he needed a break.  It just seems a bit sad that he seems to have fallen out of love with Frost*. Saying this I'm still intrigued to hear what his new direction will sound like as I'm sure he will continue to write great music.

[D S]

I've been struggling a bit with my take on the whole Jem finishing with Frost* business. My main feeling is disappointment that the band seem to be no more, I've loved both albums and when Milliontown came out it got excited about music in way I hadn't been for years. After going to both the Derby and Bilston shows at Christmas I had a real feeling that the four piece version of the band had really gelled and promised much for the future. Jems blogs have also been a real source of enjoyment and the communication he had with the Frost* fans was a real joy. I completely understand though how tiring all this was for him and its no surprise that he needed a break.  It just seems a bit sad that he seems to have fallen out of love with Frost*. Saying this I'm still intrigued to hear what his new direction will sound like as I'm sure he will continue to write great music.

Nicely put, Grif.  That pretty much summarises my views too.  I saw It Bites in Glasgow last night and they played a blinder.  However, seeing JM and Nathan playing so well together again for the first time since Derby, it was difficult not to feel a sense of lost potential there.  I spoke to Russell Cherrington (DVD director for both IB and Frost*) and it was interesting to get his rather different take on the abortive Derby DVD.  He did hint that all was not lost and instrumental tracks like Hyperventilate may yet appear on YouTube subject to Jem's agreement.

[Pedro]

Not really a different take, as such, Jem did indicate that just HyperV and the closing section of Milliontown *might* be salvageable...but it would take time if it were going to be done properly. Bunging it out on YouTube (with its "forgiving audio" would probably be easiest.
BTW I seriously hope that no-one is trying to assert that the Derby DVD debacle was not "that bad". If Jem says the recording was too bad to use on a DVD, that's good enough for me.